etrianfandomcom-20200214-history
Hero
The Hero is a class unique to Etrian Odyssey Nexus. Adept with both the shield and sword, the Hero is a flexible jack-of-all-trades class that can attack, defend, and heal. Taking the "all-rounder" role from the Landsknechts of the first two games, the Hero has a decent growth in Strength, Vitality, Wisdom, and Agility which makes them a great frontliner with a variety of skills to adapt to the situation. Gameplay Their niche is the use of afterimages, which are illusory copies of the Hero, generated in the vacant party slots after they attack. Afterimages typically remain for one more turn before disappearing, and will use the exact same attack skill that spawned them. Afterimages are typically weaker than the Hero and will not hit as hard unless the Hero has made sufficient skill point investment in boosting them. When building around the Hero, it is often favorable to use two frontliners (including the Hero themselves) and three backliners, so that the Hero's own afterimage spawns in front, where it can use melee attacks at full power. That's not to say the afterimage can't be on the backrow ever - for most of the early game, the skill producing the afterimage is Mirage Sword, which is a ranged attack that lets the afterimage still deal full damage wherever it is in the party. For the early game, start with Afterimage, Mirage Sword, Wide Bravery, and try to max out Heroic Bonds as soon as possible. The speed and damage bonus from a sufficiently healthy party should let you trigger Wide Bravery's area-of-effect bonus with ease to mop up enemies. Your sword skills are already very strong with minimal investment, so focus investment on Afterimage once you have allocated enough in Novice skills. Note that a max-level Afterimage means that with Force Boost active, you get a guaranteed Afterimage on every attacking skill. Clear Mind is also a good skill for the Hero to cure themselves if they become addled with status. For Veteran skills, Spark Blade is an incredible skill for mauling enemies resistant to cut but vulnerable to volt, and Burst Blade can destroy enemies that come with companions. Graceful Image is also worth putting points into to keep the Hero fresh, especially when maintaining an afterimage. Heroic Steel and Great Bravery are for when your party lacks a tank and the Hero needs to operate like one. Expert skills are where the Hero really shines. Regiment Rave is a strong skill that gets amplified with powerful party DPS, effectively working like an Imperial's Flame Drive without the defense penalty should your team already be on the offense. This is one of the skills truly worth maximum investment. Retain Force lets the Hero be more aggressive with using their Force Boost, and Guard Rush at max level is a fantastic panic button for expected deadly attacks from bosses. Dark Image is also an important skill in maintaining Afterimages, leading to multiple free replications of your attack skills for longer. Stat Progression Skill Tree Novice = |-| Veteran = |-| Master = Subclassing Subclasses for Hero *'Protectors' as a subclass give the Hero a lot of defensive options to work with, turning them into a tank who can still deliver damage when it counts. The elemental Walls are a great asset even if they can only greatly diminish an attack's damage, and Shield Bash and Shield Rush are still good shield attack options. HP Up will also factor into the healing strength of the Hero's own Encourage skill. *'Highlanders' offer a great deal of passives: Phys ATK Up, Phys DEF Up and HP Up are important for a frontliner, and Turning Tide is great for passive regeneration. Bloody Offense makes for a great line buff, and Blood Fortune lends aid to the party in ailment support. *'War Magus' skills allows the Hero to use their great Wisdom score to support the party with War Heal skills. War Edge Mastery lets the Hero use staves for an attack boost, but bear in mind they will impose a speed penalty for most attack skills. However, do not forget the TP boost this skill provides if you decide to stick with using swords. The Hero's poor Luck impairs their ability to bind with the War Edge skills, but Ailing Slash lets them deliver great damage to ailing enemies. In addition, if your Hero is in the row with 3 people, when an afterimage forms in the other row, Mind Drain and Vampire have the potential to activate for both rows provided the target is both ailed and bound. *'Ninjas' have amusingly similar functions to the Hero, in that both classes can create copies of themselves. The Hero would invest in Revenge Bomb, as their afterimages, when they die, will explode and damage enemies. Note that this will only be triggered by afterimages taking lethal damage and not when they expire at the end of the turn. Reflexes and Concealment also aid in sustaining the Hero, especially if they begin protecting their allies. *'Imperials' as a subclass grant the Hero access to Drive skills, which can deliver tremendous results when they trigger an Afterimage. Flick on the Force Boost, generate an afterimage, and free up your Hero to perform other actions while the afterimage deals up to tens of thousands of damage. Elem ATK Up is also good for multiplying the strength of Regiment Rave. Access to Drive Blades also means the Hero wields some of the strongest weapons available, which adds to their DPS greatly. Heroes are less concerned about the Edge combos to reset the cooldown, and will simply use their own attack skills while overheated. Drive Blades are technically still considered to be Swords for the purpose of ability to use skills, so being unable to equip a subweapon with a Drive Blade equipped will not be a hindrance. Hero as Subclass One of the main reasons people choose a Hero subclass is to enable access to Afterimage on the party member. If that is the case, ensure that the party can properly accommodate the afterimage and work around it. Otherwise, their passives like Encourage and Heroic Bonds are still good choices, providing passive healing and a good nudge to turn speed. *'Protectors' with the Hero subclass get more use with their shields. The Hero's own shielding skills don't provide as much damage reduction as the Protector's own Guard skills but can guard the entire party at once. This combo allows a Protector to advance the battle and contribute to killing random encounters without sacrificing too much in party defense. *'Sovereigns' taking up the Hero subclass gain access to more supporting skills, especially when the Shield skills can back the party up in times of need. Heroic Bonds offsets their poor turn speed and can let them apply buffs even faster without needing to push their skills to the highest level. *'Landsknechts' generally take the Hero subclass to make use of Heroic Bonds without needing to set up Vanguard, but Wide Bravery and Act Breaker are still very good skills to use when going first. In the absence of a party tank, the Shield skills make for emergency damage reduction, though it is a small boon. Landsknechts who eschew the Link tree for these skills can invest in Single Devote. Category:Etrian Odyssey Nexus Classes Category:Etrian Odyssey Nexus